Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This widely available wine is a great showcase of a savory Chardonnay, starting with aromas of lime peel, dried lemon, sea salt and sandstone. There is a pleasing salinity to the palate, where seared Meyer lemon and tangerine ride vibrant acidity
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Chardonnay Central Coast had full malolactic and aged 16 months in 10% new French oak. The nose has pure golden apple and quince scents with notes of charcuterie, cut hay, button mushroom, crushed hazelnuts, baker's yeast and spring honey. The palate is medium-bodied, intense and savory with bright citrus hints, juicy acidity and a long finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Calera Central Coast Chardonnay underscores the excellence of this AVA. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright, rich, and lasting. Enjoy its fine mix of ripe peach, chalk, and earth in its aromas and flavors. Pair it with a well-seasoned roast pork tenderloin. (Tasted: November 25, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
The largest and perhaps most varied of California’s wine-growing regions, the Central Coast produces a good majority of the state's wine. This vast California wine district stretches from San Francisco all the way to Santa Barbara along the coast, and reaches inland nearly all the way to the Central Valley.
Encompassing an extremely diverse array of climates, soil types and wine styles, it contains many smaller sub-AVAs, including San Francisco Bay, Monterey, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, Edna Valley, Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Maria Valley.
While the Central Coast California wine region could probably support almost any major grape varietiy, it is famous for a few Central Coast reds and whites. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are among the major ones. The Central Coast is home to many of the state's small, artisanal wineries crafting unique, high-quality wines, as well as larger producers also making exceptional wines.